1991 was a banner year for Christian contemporary music [1].  Amy Grant had several hits, giving her a place in the pop mainstream that she would be able to maintain through the next few albums throughout the rest of the decade.  And there was also a top ten hit by a singer named Michael W. Smith with the song “Place In This World,” which would end up being his biggest hit by far, and likely not possible in very many other years.  This particular song is a relatively popular choice to make fun of by critics, even those who recognize the existential crisis at its core is something that is easy for people to relate to.  Why is it that a song that is so relatable is in fact so widely hated.  Speaking personally, I happen to think the song is amazing, one of the best of the year, even if there are some aspects of the song that are easy enough to understand making it unpopular to critics even if the song was widely popular at the time.

The most easily faulted aspects of this song relate to its production elements.  The keyboards and guitar swells and horns sound like they come from 1980’s era Chicago or other soft rock power ballads, which I do not consider a bad thing, but which quite a lot of people tend to be bothered by.  Some people might also fault the vocal mixing of the song as well.  For me, though, these elements demonstrate the ways that Christian music has tended to find a place in this world, by taking the most middle-of-the-road and inoffensive elements to frame its most relatable appeals to the masses.  As Smith was writing and singing a song with soaring emotional resonance about seeking to find his place in this world, it is entirely understandable that he would frame this quest for his rightful place in the universe with music and production that would signal this in a way that the rest of the world could understand.  When Lauren Daigle sought to convey her own questioning of her identity in light of God’s promises, she chose to convey them with powerful vocals but tasteful instrumentation in the manner of Adele.  In general, we find that Christian acts seek to choose popular styles that allow them to reach a larger audience that would be unfamiliar with the Christian contemporary format, seeking to find a place for godly messages couched in universal terms in mainstream popular music.

Why is the longing for Michael W. Smith to find a place in the world such a universally recognizable one?  For human beings, questions of place are fraught with a great many concerns.  In general, regardless of our worldview we recognize ourselves as middle creatures.  Whether we compare ourselves on a size scale within the scope of living beings or of the universe as a whole, we find ourselves to be in the middle.  If we are religious and we reflect on our superiority to the plant and animal world in terms of rational thinking and curiosity and creativity but also to our inferiority to spirit beings, we similarly find ourselves to inhabit a middle place in Creation.  It is our place when it comes to other human beings that is most problematic though.  We are driven by our ambitions and our own compulsion for self-expression to engage in creative endeavors that seek to find an honorable place in the world, but we face a world that is often hostile to our desire to better our position.  Moreover, even our ambitions to rise may be counteracted by self-destructive tendencies within us that would destroy the place that we have, much less any higher place we attain.  If human beings received honor and respect simply for being created in the image and likeness of God, the competition for place in this world would be far less severe, because there would be a place for many, if not all, who wanted them.  But we live in a world where love and respect are all too scarce, and so the struggle for these things is intense and often deeply unpleasant for those whose longings for honor and respect are easy to recognize as legitimate and valid.

Why are we set up for so much frustration?  We live in a world full of scarcity, not only when it comes to resources, but also when it comes to proper behaviors.  Although the longing for respect and love is universal in nature, there are simply not that many people who are loving and respectful towards others on any kind of widespread and consistent basis, unless someone acquires a place in this world that would demand respect or that would make it easy to be loved.  It just so happens for Michael W. Smith that being a pop star is one of these places, which is fortunate for him.  Interestingly enough, popular Christian writer C.S. Lewis used the argument of desire to prove the existence of eternal life and the world to come.  He noted that when we have longings they relate to that which is present in reality.  If we hunger for food or thirst for water, these things exist, and our longings for them may be fulfilled (they may not be if we are in adverse circumstances, but they at least can theoretically be fulfilled).  Even our more intangible longings, for things like safety and intimacy, can be theoretically fulfilled even if we are not fortunate enough to find them.  Our longings were created to drive us to fulfill them, thus spurring us to action because of the gap between what we long for and what we find in our existence.  The fact that we long for respect and for an honorable place in this world suggests that there exists something to fulfill those longings.  Similarly, the existence of the longing for eternity in our hearts is proof that there is an eternity that would fulfill these longings for a place not merely in this world for the moment, but in the world to come for all time.

And God is aware of this longing and has already created a place for us.  As it is written in John 14:1-4:  “ “Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me.  In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.  And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.  And where I go you know, and the way you know.”  On the last night of Jesus’ life before his crucifixion, one of the many subjects on His mind was the importance of letting His disciples know that there was a place for them in His world.  Far from a situation of scarcity, we can be assured that when God calls someone and they answer the call, there is a place for them in His kingdom.  There is no sort of survivoresque competition where only one lucky winner gets to find a place as some powerful person’s apprentice, but rather the finding of a home and a place in God’s kingdom that perhaps one never had in a life of lonely wandering on the face of the earth.  After all, as it is written in Hebrews 11:13-16:  “These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off were assured of them, embraced them and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.  For those who say such things declare plainly that they seek a homeland.  And truly if they had called to mind that country from which they had come out, they would have had opportunity to return.  But now they desire a better, that is, a heavenly country. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared a city for them.”  If it is an immensely difficult matter for us to find our place in this world, at least it ought to reassure us that we have as our Father a God who has prepared a place for us in the world to come, and who wishes us to be comforted by that reality.

[1] See, for example:

The Devil’s Music: Christian Contemporary Music And Its Critics

You Say: Some Thoughts About Christian Contemporary Music From A Somewhat Biased Commentator